 Nine Masons (Charles Warren, William Harry Rylands, Robert Freke Gould, The Revd Adolphus Frederick Alexander Woodford, Walter Besant, John Paul Rylands, Major Sisson Cooper Pratt, , and George William Speth), dissatisfied with the way the history of Freemasonry had been expounded in the past, founded the Lodge, obtaining a warrant in 1884.Due to the absence of the first Master, Sir Charles Warren, on a diplomatic mission in Southern Africa, the Lodge was not formally inaugurated until two years later.They insisted on using an evidence-based approach to the study of Masonic history.